COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The University of Colorado Colorado Springs Galleries of Contemporary Art will pair its new exhibit “Visual Environments: Pattie Lee Becker & Suchitra Mattai” with UCCS Peak FreQuency’s concert series through September at GOCA121, centrally located in the Plaza of the Rockies at 121 S. Tejon Street Suite 100.

The exhibit, reception and concerts are all free and open to the public; refreshments will be provided and donations are accepted.

Suchitra Mattai, Untitled, Graphite, acrylic and mixed-media, 2013.

The opening event will take place from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Aug. 2. A 5:30 p.m. gallery talk with artists Pattie Lee Becker and Suchitra Mattai will be followed by a concert at 6:30 pm entitled “Sonic Landscapes.” The exhibit will be on display through Sept. 17. A series of concerts curated by the Peak Frequency Creative Arts Collective will take place during this exhibit, inviting the public to explore new sonic landscapes in the midst of the art. This collaboration between GOCA and the Peak Frequency Creative Arts Collective promotes an interdisciplinary approach to contemporary music, visual art, and live performance.

About the Exhibit

Becker and Mattai are Denver-based artists translating their experiences of environments through painting, letterpress, drawing, and mixed-media – Becker from a microscopic scale and Mattai an industrial scale. While exhibiting distinct bodies of work for this exhibit, their use of pattern, line, color and a drive to explore and investigate both natural and built environments connects their work.

About the Concerts:

The opening concert, “Sonic Landscapes:Eco Acoustic Art,” will result from a summer course taught by UCCS artist-in-residence Matthew Burtner of the EcoSono Institute and Glen Whitehead, associate professor, Department of Visual and Performing Arts. Part of GOCA’s ‘Free First Fridays’ summer concert series in conjunction with COPPeR, it will take place on an outdoor stage in front of the Plaza of the Rockies. Two “in gallery” concerts follow. On Sept. 9, renowned cellist Charles Curtis will perform a solo recital titled “A Listener’s Music: Performative Listeners & the Performance of Listening” and a final closing concert featuring composer/pianist Anthony Davis will take place at 7 p.m. Sept. 17.

About the Artists

Pattie Lee Becker is an artist and designer who focuses on pattern and color to narrate subconscious worlds. Through drawing, printmaking and sculpture, familiar and foreign forms arise in hauntingly playful relationships. Raised in the Midwest, Pattie Lee spent her childhood surrounded by prairie and open sky. After graduating from Rhode Island School of Design, she moved her studio to Brooklyn, N.Y., where she developed her practice for a decade before relocating to the Rocky Mountains. She holds a master’s in fine arts from Columbia University’s School of the Arts and has been awarded numerous residencies and fellowships.

Suchitra Mattai was born in Guyana, South America, and is of South Asian descent. Mattai received a master’s in fine arts in painting and drawing and a master’s in South Asian art from the University of Pennsylvania. She also studied at the Royal College of Art, London, and Pratt Institute, Brooklyn. Suchitra has exhibited her work nationally in solo and group shows in Denver, Philadelphia, New York, Minneapolis, and Austin. Her work has also been included in the curated publication, New American Paintings, and the viewing program of The Drawing Center in New York City.

This concert is part of a new humanities course, Sonic Landscapes:Eco Acoustic Art, and features Matthew Burtner, associate professor, University of Virginia, and founder of the EcoSono Institute. The concert includes environmental compositions by Burtner, Whitehead and Jane Rigler, senior instructor, Department of Visual and Performing Arts, including a world premiere collaboration by Burtner and classical guitarist Colin McAllister called “Iztaccihuatl Vertex,” based on McAllister’s March ascent of the Iztaccihuatl volcano in central Mexico.

Matthew Burtner is an Alaskan-born composer, sound artist and technologist specializing in concert chamber music and interactive new media. His work explores ecoacoustics, embodiment, and extended polymetric and noise-based systems. First Prize Winner of the Musica Nova International Electroacoustic Music Competition (Czech Republic), a 2011 IDEA Award Winner, and a recipient of the Howard Brown Foundation Fellowship, Burtner’s music has also received honors and awards from Bourges (France), Gaudeamus (Netherlands), Darmstadt (Germany) and Luigi Russolo (Italy) international competitions. He is associate professor of composition and computer technologies in the Department of Music at the University of Virginia. Burtner’s music has been performed in major festivals and venues throughout the world. He is visiting UCCS in summer 2013 as part of Whitehead’s “Sound Art” course and will perform new works created during this residency.

GOCA is a regional hub of contemporary art, culture, and conversation. By featuring world-class artists, hosting artist & expert talks, and offering meaningful events we engage UCCS students, faculty, staff and Pikes Peak Region community members in contemporary culture and life. GOCA features two galleries – one founded on the UCCS campus in 1982 and a satellite opened in 2010 in the Plaza of the Rockies building

The Peak FreQuency Creative Arts Collective serves as a platform for innovative, culturally diverse pursuits in music, as well as interdisciplinary practices and research in sonic arts and other fields. A resident organization of the Music Program of the Visual and Performing Arts Department (VAPA) at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs Peak Frequency presents thematically designed, carefully curated concerts as well as interactive residencies with guests drawn from the international music and arts scenes that reflect both faculty and student research, creative work and VAPA Music curriculum directions.

The University of Colorado Colorado Springs, located on Austin Bluffs Parkway in Colorado Springs, is one of the fastest growing universities in the nation. The University offers 36 bachelor’s degrees, 19 master’s and five doctoral degrees. UCCS enrolls about 9,800 students on campus annually and another 2,000 in online programs. For more information, visit www.uccs.edu.